World reacts to killing of Hamas leader Haniyeh in Tehran

World reacts to killing of Hamas leader Haniyeh in Tehran
Ismael Haniyeh, Palestinian leader of the militant group Hamas, surrounded by lawmakers flashes the victory sign during the swearing in ceremony for the new Iranian President, at the parliament in Tehran on July 30, 2024. Iranian reformist Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn as the Islamic republic's ninth president. (Photo by AFP)
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Updated 31 July 2024
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World reacts to killing of Hamas leader Haniyeh in Tehran

World reacts to killing of Hamas leader Haniyeh in Tehran

DUBAI: The assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Iran drew regional and global reactions, raising fears of wider escalation in a region shaken by Israel’s war in Gaza and a worsening conflict in Lebanon.

Hamas said that Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he was attending the inauguration of the country’s new president. 

Israel itself did not immediately comment but it often doesn’t when it comes to assassinations carried out by their Mossad intelligence agency.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States was “not aware of or involved in” the killing of Haniyeh in Iran.

“I can't tell you what this means. I can tell you that the imperative of getting a ceasefire, the importance that that has for everyone, remains,” Blinken said, according to a transcript shared by his staff from an interview with Channel News Asia in Singapore.

However, Iran said that the United States bears responsibility in the assassination of Haniyeh because of its support for Israel.

Attack risks to escalate regional fighting
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed revenge on Israel over the killing of Hamas' political chief, saying Israel “prepared a harsh punishment for itself.”

“We consider his revenge as our duty” in a statement on his official website, saying Haniyeh was “a dear guest in our home.” Iran also declared three days of mourning following the killing of the Hamas chief.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters: “This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas.”

He said that Hamas would continue the path it was following, adding: “We are confident of victory.”

Hamas senior official Moussa Abu Marzouk, meanwhile, said that Haniyeh’s assassination will not go unanswered, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Wednesday. He also called the assassination a cowardly act.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the killing of Haniyeh, and Palestinian factions in the occupied West Bank called for a general strike and mass demonstrations.

Russia on Wednesday denounced the killing of Haniyeh as an “unacceptable political assassination.”

“It is a completely unacceptable political assassination, and this will lead to a further escalation of tensions,” Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

Konstantin Kosachev, the vice president of Russia’s upper house Federation Council, said that he expected a “sudden escalation of mutual hatred in the Near East.”

“The most difficult period of confrontations is beginning in the region,” he wrote on Telegram.

On Haniyeh’s death, China’s foreign ministry said that China opposes and condemns the act of “assassination.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the “perfidious assassination” in Tehran of his close ally and “brother” Haniyeh. 

“May God have mercy on my brother Ismail Haniyeh, fallen in martyrdom after this odious attack,” Erdogan wrote on the X social media platform, denouncing “Zionist barbarity.”

“This shameful act aims to sabotage the Palestinian cause, the glorious Gazan resistance and our Palestinian brothers' just fight, and to intimidate Palestinians,” Erdogan added.

Qatar and Egypt say assassinations damage Gaza truce chances

Qatar strongly condemned the assassination of Haniyeh considering it a heinous crime, “a dangerous escalation, and a flagrant violation of international and humanitarian law.”

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed in a statement that “the assassination and reckless targeting of civilians will lead the region into chaos and undermine the chances of peace.”

Egypt said that Israeli escalation indicated a lack of political will from Israel for de-escalation, after the killing of Haniyeh. 

A statement from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said this escalation, along with making no progress in Gaza ceasefire talks, was complicating the situation.

Iraq's foreign ministry in a statement described the killing as a “flagrant violation of international law and a threat to security and stability in the region.”

Iran-backed groups condemn Haniyeh killing

Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards military force confirmed the death of Haniyeh and said in a statement that “Iran and the resistance front will respond to this crime," employing a term Tehran uses to refer to allied militant groups across the Middle East.

Yemen’s Iran-backed militant Houthi group called Haniyeh’s killing a “heinous terrorist crime”.

“Targeting him is a heinous terrorist crime and a flagrant violation of laws and ideal values,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of the Huthis' political bureau, posted on X.

The Yemeni rebels have been launching drones and missiles at shipping in the Red Sea since November, saying that they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war.

Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah issued its condolences on Wednesday but did not specifically accuse Israel. It said that Haniyeh’s killing would make Iran-aligned groups, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, more determined to confront Israel.

Iraqi armed faction Kataib Hezbollah, part of a pro-Iran alliance of armed groups, said the Israeli killing of Haniyeh in Tehran “broke all rules of engagement,” in a statement on its official Telegram account on Wednesday.


 


15 Turkish-backed fighters killed in north Syria clashes with Kurdish-led forces

15 Turkish-backed fighters killed in north Syria clashes with Kurdish-led forces
Updated 6 sec ago
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15 Turkish-backed fighters killed in north Syria clashes with Kurdish-led forces

15 Turkish-backed fighters killed in north Syria clashes with Kurdish-led forces

BEIRUT: At least 15 Ankara-backed Syrian fighters were killed Sunday after Kurdish-led forces infiltrated their territory in the country’s north, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said.
Fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who controls swathes of the country’s northeast, “infiltrated positions of the Turkish-backed” fighters in the Aleppo countryside, said the Observatory, which has a network of sources inside Syria.
“The two sides engaged in violent clashes” that killed 15 of the Ankara-backed fighters, the monitor said.
An AFP correspondent in Syria’s north said the clashes had taken place near the city of Al-Bab, where authorities said schools would be suspended on Monday due to the violence.
The SDF is a US-backed force that spearheaded the fighting against the Daesh group in its last Syria strongholds before its territorial defeat in 2019.
It is dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), viewed by Ankara as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which claimed the attack on Ankara.
Turkish troops and allied rebel factions control swathes of northern Syria following successive cross-border offensives since 2016, most of them targeting the SDF.


Israel moving towards a ceasefire deal in Lebanon, Axios reports

Israel moving towards a ceasefire deal in Lebanon, Axios reports
Updated 16 min 2 sec ago
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Israel moving towards a ceasefire deal in Lebanon, Axios reports

Israel moving towards a ceasefire deal in Lebanon, Axios reports

BEIRUT: Israel is moving towards a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon with the Hezbollah militant group, Axios reporter Barak Ravid posted on X on Sunday, citing a senior Israeli official.
A separate report from Israel's public broadcaster Kan, citing an Israeli official, said there was no green light given on an agreement in Lebanon, with issues still yet to be resolved.

 


Russia plane evacuated in Turkiye as engine catches fire

Russia plane evacuated in Turkiye as engine catches fire
Updated 25 min 13 sec ago
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Russia plane evacuated in Turkiye as engine catches fire

Russia plane evacuated in Turkiye as engine catches fire
  • “Eighty nine passengers and six crew members on board were safely evacuated at 9:43 p.m. (1843 GMT) and there were no injuries”

ISTANBUL: More than 90 passengers and crew were evacuated from a Russian plane Sunday after one of its engines caught fire while landing at an airport in southern Turkiye, the transport ministry said.
The incident involved a Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SU95) operated by Russia’s Azimuth Airlines.
They plane had just landed at Antalya airport on Turkiye’s Mediterranean coast when a fire broke out in one of its engines, a ministry statement said.
“A SU95 type and RA89085-registered aircraft of Azimuth Airlines traveling from Sochi airport in Russia to Antalya airport had an engine fire during landing,” it said.
“Eighty nine passengers and six crew members on board were safely evacuated at 9:43 p.m. (1843 GMT) and there were no injuries.”
All further scheduled landings at the airport would be canceled until 3:00 am, it added, saying other planes waiting to depart would use the airport’s military runway for takeoff.
An airport official told Anadolou state news agency that the fire had affected its left engine but had been quickly extinguished.

 


War-hit Lebanon suspends in-person classes in Beirut area til end of December

Smoke billows over Beirut’s southern suburbs after an Israeli strike, seen from Baabda.
Smoke billows over Beirut’s southern suburbs after an Israeli strike, seen from Baabda.
Updated 25 November 2024
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War-hit Lebanon suspends in-person classes in Beirut area til end of December

Smoke billows over Beirut’s southern suburbs after an Israeli strike, seen from Baabda.
  • Education minister announced “the suspension of in-person teaching” in schools, technical institutes and private higher education institutions in Beirut
  • Suspension of in-person teaching also applies to parts of neighboring Metn, Baabda and Shouf districts starting Monday

BEIRUT: Lebanon has suspended in-person classes in the Beirut area until the end of December, the education ministry announced Sunday, citing safety concerns after a series of Israeli air strikes this week.
Education Minister Abbas Halabi announced in a statement “the suspension of in-person teaching” in schools, technical institutes and private higher education institutions in Beirut and parts of the neighboring Metn, Baabda and Shouf districts starting Monday “for the safety of students, educational institutions and parents, in light of the current dangerous conditions.”
Earlier on Sunday, Lebanese state media reported two Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, about an hour after the Israeli military posted evacuation calls online for parts of the Hezbollah bastion.
“Israeli warplanes launched two violent strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs in the Kafaat area,” the official National News Agency said.
The southern Beirut area has been repeatedly struck since September 23 when Israel intensified its air campaign also targeting Hezbollah bastions in Lebanon’s east and south. It later sent in ground troops to southern Lebanon.


Legal threats close in on Israel’s Netanyahu, could impact ongoing wars   

Legal threats close in on Israel’s Netanyahu, could impact ongoing wars   
Updated 24 November 2024
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Legal threats close in on Israel’s Netanyahu, could impact ongoing wars   

Legal threats close in on Israel’s Netanyahu, could impact ongoing wars   
  • The trial opened in 2020 and Netanyahu is finally scheduled to take the stand next month after the court rejected his latest request to delay testimony on the grounds that he had been too busy overseeing the war to prepare his defense

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces legal perils at home and abroad that point to a turbulent future for the Israeli leader and could influence the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, analysts and officials say. The International Criminal Court (ICC) stunned Israel on Thursday by issuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the 13-month-old Gaza conflict. The bombshell came less than two weeks before Netanyahu is due to testify in a corruption trial that has dogged him for years and could end his political career if he is found guilty. He has denied any wrongdoing. While the domestic bribery trial has polarized public opinion, the prime minister has received widespread support from across the political spectrum following the ICC move, giving him a boost in troubled times.
Netanyahu has denounced the court’s decision as antisemitic and denied charges that he and Gallant targeted Gazan civilians and deliberately starved them.
“Israelis get really annoyed if they think the world is against them and rally around their leader, even if he has faced a lot of criticism,” said Yonatan Freeman, an international relations expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
“So anyone expecting that the ICC ruling will end this government, and what they see as a flawed (war) policy, is going to get the opposite,” he added.
A senior diplomat said one initial consequence was that Israel might be less likely to reach a rapid ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon or secure a deal to bring back hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
“This terrible decision has ... badly harmed the chances of a deal in Lebanon and future negotiations on the issue of the hostages,” said Ofir Akunis, Israel’s consul general in New York.
“Terrible damage has been done because these organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas ... have received backing from the ICC and thus they are likely to make the price higher because they have the support of the ICC,” he told Reuters.
While Hamas welcomed the ICC decision, there has been no indication that either it or Hezbollah see this as a chance to put pressure on Israel, which has inflicted huge losses on both groups over the past year, as well as on civilian populations.

IN THE DOCK The ICC warrants highlight the disconnect between the way the war is viewed here and how it is seen by many abroad, with Israelis focused on their own losses and convinced the nation’s army has sought to minimize civilian casualties.
Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, said the ICC move would likely harden resolve and give the war cabinet license to hit Gaza and Lebanon harder still.
“There’s a strong strand of Israeli feeling that runs deep, which says ‘if we’re being condemned for what we are doing, we might just as well go full gas’,” he told Reuters.
While Netanyahu has received wide support at home over the ICC action, the same is not true of the domestic graft case, where he is accused of bribery, breach of trust and fraud.
The trial opened in 2020 and Netanyahu is finally scheduled to take the stand next month after the court rejected his latest request to delay testimony on the grounds that he had been too busy overseeing the war to prepare his defense.
He was due to give evidence last year but the date was put back because of the war. His critics have accused him of prolonging the Gaza conflict to delay judgment day and remain in power, which he denies. Always a divisive figure in Israel, public trust in Netanyahu fell sharply in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas assault on southern Israel that caught his government off guard, cost around 1,200 lives.
Israel’s subsequent campaign has killed more than 44,000 people and displaced nearly all Gaza’s population at least once, triggering a humanitarian catastrophe, according to Gaza officials.
The prime minister has refused advice from the state attorney general to set up an independent commission into what went wrong and Israel’s subsequent conduct of the war.
He is instead looking to establish an inquiry made up only of politicians, which critics say would not provide the sort of accountability demanded by the ICC.
Popular Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth said the failure to order an independent investigation had prodded the ICC into action. “Netanyahu preferred to take the risk of arrest warrants, just as long as he did not have to form such a commission,” it wrote on Friday.

ARREST THREAT The prime minister faces a difficult future living under the shadow of an ICC warrant, joining the ranks of only a few leaders to have suffered similar humiliation, including Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi and Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic.
It also means he risks arrest if he travels to any of the court’s 124 signatory states, including most of Europe.
One place he can safely visit is the United States, which is not a member of the ICC, and Israeli leaders hope US President-elect Donald Trump will bring pressure to bear by imposing sanctions on ICC officials.
Mike Waltz, Trump’s nominee for national security adviser, has already promised tough action: “You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC & UN come January,” he wrote on X on Friday. In the meantime, Israeli officials are talking to their counterparts in Western capitals, urging them to ignore the arrest warrants, as Hungary has already promised to do.
However, the charges are not going to disappear soon, if at all, meaning fellow leaders will be increasingly reluctant to have relations with Netanyahu, said Yuval Shany, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute.
“In a very direct sense, there is going to be more isolation for the Israeli state going forward,” he told Reuters.